Sunday, January 22, 2012

9 Months ago I just wanted to run a 5K, that's all....no biggie. If you would have told me I would run 13.1 miles I would have thought you were crazy. Friday we drove down with my friend Connie and her husband, we went to Olive Garden for dinner and carb'd it up (ok, I'll be honest I was carb loading the entire week). The hotel we stayed at was literally right next to the Dixie Center (which was where the race started and finished) SO NICE! Saturday morning we woke up to rain- serious?! this has been the driest winter Utah has seen and on race day it's raining?! Fortunately the temp was in the upper 40's so it wasn't too cold.

Look at that smile, obviously I have no idea what I'm about to do

Tina (another friend from work) also came down for the race

Tina, Connie, Me and Jenny trying to stay warm in the rain

waiting for the half to start

So to the best of my knowledge running a half marathon is kinda what I imagine labor would be like (disclaimer: having not given birth to a child I don't claim to actually KNOW and I think childbirth has got to be way harder than running). You've been waiting/training for months getting ready for the big day. Your emotions range from excitement/fear/nervous/anxiety, you've mentally pumped yourself up. The race starts and you're feeling good--"I can totally do this" about half way point you're thinking "What in the H was I thinking?!" It hurts, you want to quit but you just can't, somewhere deep down you have to dig and find that last ounce of strength to keep pushing. Finally you reach 10 and you're so close, just a little bit further. You finally cross that finish line and you are overwhelmed with emotions you want to cry/laugh/die... You think to yourself, I am NEVER doing this again (of coarse we all know that after the pain subsides you're no longer sore and you've forgotten about that pain you're totally going to do this again) and yes, I'm already thinking about running the Salt Lake half in April :)

0.1 to go! (we're behind the blue lady)

There is no way I could have done this without Connie, she was the BEST! She stayed with me the entire way, endured listening to me whine and cry (miles 8-10) and kept me going.

FINISHED my FIRST HALF MARATHON!!

TIME 2:12:56

best orange slices and chocolate milk of my life!

We are SOAKING WET! Proof that running does make you crazy/goofy :)

My awesome hansom cheerleader

He didn't run this one with me BUT he's promised he will run a half with me this summer :)

I survived but my toe didn't- sad

The rain we ran in turned into snow on the drive home YIKES! We made it home safe but the weather added another hour to our drive.